Above: City Hall in Washington, D.C., transformed with assistance of Casa Magica artists. Below: City Hall in Washington, D.C., before the lighting. Click photos for larger image. Related article: French artist is eager to turn Pittsburgh into 'City of Lights' "Pittsburgh Festival of Lights!" When: The lights go on at all sites at approximately 9 p.m. Wednesday; then daily, dark (about 9 p.m.) until 1 a.m. through July 1. Where: Downtown. Lucette de Rugy installations: Omni William Penn Hotel, 530 William Penn Place; Katz Plaza Penn Avenue and Seventh Street; Duquesne Light, 411 Seventh Ave. (from Liberty Avenue) Highmark Building (the old Horne's building), Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street. Rob Long lightworks: Penn and Ninth Avenues, both sides of the street; around the parameters of the Three Rivers Arts Festival. Performances: Music at Katz and performance at Mellon Square, across from the William Penn, TBA. Information: www.pittsburghcelebrates.org.

For a magical month beginning Wednesday, four Downtown buildings will be transformed into spellbinding canvases painted with light.

If you think that's an exaggeration, listen up: An installation by the same artist stopped New York commuters in their tracks in the midst of a weekday rush hour, according to Marguerite Jarrett Marks, director of Pittsburgh Celebrates Glass! Now that's one definition of a showstopper!

Marks was crossing Grand Central Terminal when she saw people taking in a dramatic light show designed by French artist Lucette de Rugy and her company, Artlumiere.

"I saw right there the power of light and color -- and evidence of the power of her work. She embraces the setting and has the ability to create things that appeal to everyone," Marks says.

Rugy and Omaha-based glass artist Therman Statom are two internationally recognized figures who were brought in to add luster to an already gilded year.

The impetus for the citywide 2007 celebration of glass was the commitment by Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens to "Chihuly at Phipps: Gardens & Glass," a show that intermingles Phipps' lush greenery and the colorful glass sculpture of noted West Coast glass artist Dale Chihuly.

Phipps reached out to Carnegie Museum of Art and the Pittsburgh Glass Center, both of which programmed their own major exhibitions. When the Glass Art Society decided to hold its annual international conference in Pittsburgh, the stage was set for a citywide event.

Marks says that an infrastructure had been created last year with more than 70 partners for "Pittsburgh Roars." Getting her office on board meant that glass could be taken to a broader audience and that programming money could be applied for.

	Above: "Christmas Decorations," lighting the Charles A. Dana Discovery Center at the Harlem Meer, Central Park, New York, with Casa Magica. Below: The center before the lighting. Click photos for larger image.

At an early planning meeting, Richard Sieber of Duquesne Light passed around a brochure on Rugy's work. His neighbor had lived in Lyon, France, pre-Pittsburgh, and had seen her installations during a light festival there. Sieber, who'd met Rugy, said she was wonderful, Marks recalls.

Marks contacted Rugy, who agreed to meet with them. "She loves glass, Chihuly, and likes to look from a design perspective. It was just a wonderful fit -- she got it right away," Marks says.

How does light fit into a glass fest?

Marks sees an affinity between the media. "Glass is a natural prism for light, and color is integral to the glass art process."

Glass also appears as subject in some of the projections, blending boundaries between the two forms of expression.

They wanted to create an impact for the first year, she says, and so decided to light more than one building. Money was raised for four sites and six designs.

	Above: Projected decors for "La Traviata" at the Theatre Antique in Orange, France, which dates to the Roman Empire. They are designed by Corentine Buron, who also is responsible for the Pittsburgh building designs. Below: "La Traviata" at the Theatre Antique in Orange, France, before its transformation. Click photos for larger image.

Pittsburgh artist Rob Long, known for his light-infused photography, was invited to create lighting designs that will be installed within the area of the Rugy works.

The goal, Marks says, was to create a destination. A visitor could walk to one or two of the buildings, and then go out to dinner or to a performance, for example. Access to other things to do "drove the decision in terms of the best place to go in year one. But next, who knows?"

Marks grew up in Pittsburgh but lived away for 20 years. One evening, upon her return, she says, she was Downtown near the Allegheny River. Rows of blue lights gave soft outline to a nearby bridge, a game was going on at PNC Park and fireworks began to drape the night with iridescent color. "I got tears in my eyes.

"Pittsburgh is beautiful by day, but it's spectacular by night," she says, and that's something she'd like more people to know.

Having Rugy return in future years is a possibility. Marks points out that Downtown already sports a few light artworks.

"Wouldn't it be great if we were the American City of Light?" Marks says with a smile that, well, lights up the room.